Tuesday August 11, 2026
Sunny with a high of 26°C (78.8°F)
Yesterday my family, myself and our friend Steve should have been on a flight to Lanzarote, for a well deserved holiday. Unfortunately, due to issues at the hotel, and with no other options available, our holiday was cancelled. But, we will get the money back and we still have great weather here in the UK. With that in mind, Steve, Erin and myself decided to head off to London.
Erin and I met up with Steve at Watford underground station, where we boarded a Baker Street-bound train, that we took to Finchley Road. From here we crossed the platform and continued our journey to St John's Wood, via the Jubilee line.
On exiting the station we headed south along Finchley Road, before turning along Circus Road, where we stopped at the Tesco Express to grab some snacks and extra drinks. From here we travelled along St John's Wood High Street where I discovered well-kept rows of coal hole covers. Usually these have been removed or worn away. But here, there were rows of up to thirteen covers still in situ. St John's Wood High Street brought us to Prince Albert Road, where we joined the Regent's Canal at the North Gate.
The towpath was remarkably quiet as we made our way eastward, passing beneath the Macclesfield 'Blow Up' Bridge before passing by the Snowdon Aviary. The aviary, opened in 1965, was Britain's first walk-through aviary. housing many exotic birds. Today it has been reimagined, following a multi-million pound renovation, and is now called Monkey Valley, and is home to eastern black-and-white colobus monkeys. As we passed we could see the monkeys with their bushy white tails, munching on branches and clambering along ropes.
A little further on and the canal meandered to the left, passing beneath Prince Albert Road, forcing us to duck our heads through the narrow tunnel. We continued on, passing through more tunnels, before arriving at The Pirate Castle where around twenty children were kayaking on the still water of the canal. Another tunnel, below Oval Road, brought us to Camden Lock,
We traversed the canal via the iron footbridge and made our way to Camden High Street, where we perused some of the shops before grabbing a bite to eat from Hot Pot Camden. Fresh noodles for all, with Erin topping hers with sweet and sour chicken, while Steve and I opted for a mixture of toppings that included beef in black bean sauce, chicken teriyaki and more. The food was delicious.
The one shop that Erin did want to visit had moved on, so she went for an exploratory of the other shops and stalls. Stalls selling jewellery, clothing, posters, make up and more were all explored with nothing piquing her interest. That changed when she spotted a stall selling Ariana Grande merchandise. Being a massive fan of 'Wicked' Erin also loves Ariana's music. After looking at everything that there was to see Erin settled on a t-shirt and two keyrings. The keyrings had a code on them that, once scanned, allowed you to listen to the entire album on your phone via the Spotify app. The plain white t-shirt had "Eternal Sunshine" written on it. Erin was happy.
We then perused some more stalls, all the while being offered free tastings of various foods from around the world, before rejoining the towpath as we continued our journey along the Regent's Canal. The canal meandered its way eastward, before turning in a southeast direction as it brought us to St Pancras Basin. We explored Gasholder Park and then Coal Drops Yard before we reached the Espérance Bridge, where we stopped above the canal and looked down on the Canalside Green Steps. The steps were full of families who were watching the animated movie 'Flow' put on by 'Everyman on the Canal'.
With the heat beating down we decided that ice creams were in order, so we made our way to the kiosk and ordered two scoops each, of varying flavours, each. We then stood in the shade and devoured the icy treat, while watching some of the movie on the screen on the other side of the canal.
From here we headed across Granary Square, where children were running in and out of the fountains, making our way towards Canopy Market only to discover that it wasn't open today. So, we headed through Wharf Road Gardens and across York Way, stopping at 'The Star of Kings' pub for some refreshment while we decided where we were to head to next. Erin buried her head in her phone, checking Google Maps, trying to decide where she wanted to go next. Just as we were finishing our drinks Erin suggested that we head towards the River Thames. So, off we set.
When walking it is always important to look around, otherwise you will miss the abundance of messages that adorn paving slabs, lampposts, cabinets, and the like. We followed York Way south, crossed Euston Road, and joined Gray's Inn Road with its abundance of architectural buildings of different styles. Massive former hospital buildings gave way to more residential dwellings, while office buildings from the 1970s stood beside wonderful Georgian architecture. Eventually we reached Holborn and moved onto Staple Buildings, which brought us out onto Chancery Lane. We then joined Fleet Street, once London's printing heart, before turning south along Bouverie Street onto the Victoria Embankment.
Bazalgette Embankment was our next port of call, where we took in the view and welcomed the slight breeze from the river. From here we gave Erin a number of choices on where to go next, to which she replied "Tower Bridge." So on we went, passing beneath both Blackfriars Bridge before stopping to check the time with the Tylers and Bricklayers MillenniuM sundial. Then it was off to the London MillenniuM Footbridge and along Paul's Walk. Now, this north part of the River Thames walk hasn't been fully open in many years, so Steve had never walked this stretch. The path took us beneath the buildings to Globe View where 'Thames Made Modern' by Artbash, an art and poetry project, has been installed on the walls.
We stopped at Queenhithe Dock and Wharf, where we peered over the river wall at the relics strewn across the last Anglo-Saxon dock in the world. I have never seen so many pieces of clay pipe in one location before, along with countless tiles, bricks, animal bones, oyster shells and much more. As we moved around to the east side of the dock we stopped to take in the detail put into the 30 metre (98.42 feet) Queenhithe Mosaic, which tells the history of the area.
On we continued, passing below Southwark Bridge before stopping at 'Little Ship Club', where Steve posed for a photo. Then it passed below Cannon Street station and railway bridge, via Steelyard Passage, and joined Hanseatic Walk, which morphed into Oystergate Walk and took us beneath London Bridge. Old Billingsgate was next, before we made our way past Custom House and out onto Sugar Quay Jetty. This wonderfully restored jetty allows for some great shots of London Bridge, The Shard, HMS Belfast and the Tower of London.
Up Petty Wales we walked, with Erin now deciding that we should get some drinks and maybe make a move towards home. Across Tower Hill, up The Minories and along Portsoken Street we walked, until we reached the 'Goodman's Field' pub. Cold rinks were ordered and the facilities used, before we sat outside in the shade, chatting about our day. We were having such a good time, going through photos, reminiscing about what we had seen and where we had been that another round was ordered.
Finally, with drinks finished, we wandered up Mansell Street, crossed Aldgate High Street and boarded an Uxbridge-bound Metropolitan line train that we took to Baker Street. Here some snacks were purchased, before we made our way to Platform 4 from where we caught a train home.
It was yet another great day out with great company, seeing some familiar and some new places.
Distance travelled:
- Bus - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Cable Car - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Car - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- DLR - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Ferry - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Overground - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- River Boat - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Taxi - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Train - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Tram - 0.0 miles (0.0 kms)
- Underground - 41 miles (65.98 kms)
- Walking - 10.2 miles (16.41 kms)
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